Akamai Announces VBR Streaming Support To Deliver Live Video Content For iPhone And iPod Touch

The leading company in web application acceleration and performance management, streaming media services and content delivery, Akamai Technologies, Inc. has announced variable bit rate (VBR) streaming support to deliver live and high quality video content for Apple’s iPhone and iPod touch. The VBR streaming was an impressive feature delivered in new iPhone 3.0 OS update, aiming to provide users a superior quality video streaming experience.


According to the company, Akamai HTTP Streaming for iPhone is available as part of Akamai’s Media Delivery solution, delivering a high fidelity viewing experience at any bit rate, faster video start up times and reduced video buffering.

“Apple’s extensive support for new web standards like HTML 5 and HTTP streaming of live and on-demand video to the iPhone and iPod touch has transformed the quality of video content that consumers can now view while mobile,” said Tim Napoleon, Chief Strategist Digital Media, Akamai Technologies. “To be able to watch video anytime, anywhere at a quality this high is nothing short of amazing.”

Akamai’s iPhone 3.0Video Showcase site (iphone.akamai.com) has been set up to demonstrate this new solution, streaming live and on-demand video from content owners and publishers including Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), Discovery, FOX News, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, MTV, NPR, Turner Sports and USA TODAY.
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VideoLAN Reaches Major Milestone with VLC Media Player version 1.0 Released to Market

Sometimes you may encounter such as situation that some media files cannot be played on your desktop due to codec type dependency. In order to reduce such an inconvenience and dependency on codec types, VideoLAN has been continuously improving its VLC media player as a free and open source multimedia framework and streaming solution for both office and home use. Just recently, VLC media player has reached a major milestone, version 1.0 with some improvements other than bug fixes.


VLC is an open source media player that is famous for its cross-platform compatibility. Without any dependency of system codecs, it is capable to play almost every type of video files seamlessly while allowing media streaming in your digital home. Some of the enhancements in the new release include new HD (High Definition) codecs support such as AES3, TrueHD, Real Video 3/4.0 and Blu-Ray Linear PCM as well as new formats such as Raw Dirac, M2TS and many more. Besides, it supports instant pausing and frame-by-frame support, live recording, finer speed controls, video scaling in full screen for much greater visual experience. Other than these, the new VLC version 1.0 is further enhanced with RTSP Trickplay support, zipped file playback, easier encoding GUI with customizable toolbars that make your media player unique from the rest.

If you have not tried VLC before, now is the time to download one here and experience it out yourself at no charge.
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Where To Watch Michael Jackson Memorial Funeral Live Streaming Video Online

The memorial service for Michael Jackson, the King of Pop, who had died on June 25th 2009 is going to start on 10 AM (Pacific Time UTC-7) or 1 PM (Eastern Time UTC-4), July 7 2009 at Staples Center arena at Los Angeles, California of United States. Staples Center is also the place where Michael Jackson last rehearsed and prepared for This Is It concerts in London.

With more than 1.6 million people went after only 17,500 lottery-draw entrance tickets to the official memory service for Michael Jackson at Staples Center and another 6,500 tickets for watching a simulcast in the nearby Nokia Theater, most has been left disappointed. Together with millions worldwide, it’s still possible to watch the memorial service, live on TV or via live streaming online on the web.

The Michael Jackson funeral will likely to be one of the most-watched events in entertainment history, exceeding 300 million and up to 1 billion online and offline, according to various pundits’ estimates, eclipsing that of Elvis Presley in 1977, which attracted 77,000 people, and of Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997, which saw 250,000 people gather in Hyde Park alone. The global audience is like to exceed viewers of inauguration of President Barack Obama too.

Thus, Micheal Jackson funeral cum memorial service will be broadcasting live (in fact most already started the coverage) on several TV and cable channels around the world, including news channel such as CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, Sky News, and entertainment channels such as MTV, BET, E! Online, BBC Two, TV3, Sky Arts and RTÉ Two. Apple will stream the event to iPhone owners too.

Those who can’t receive above channels or don’t live near a place where public screenings are held can watch the live stream of the memorial and funeral of MJ online. Here’s a brief list of available online live video streaming which Michael Jackson memorial service and funeral coverage:

• CNN.com Live with Facebook
• MTV Asia
• USA Today
• ABC News
• Fox News on Hulu (USA Only)
• msnbc.com
• CBS News
• MySpace
• ET Online
• E! Online
• TMZ.com

You can watch the Michael Jackson memorial and funeral live coverage streaming right here too.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

It’s expected that casket with Michael Jackson’s body will be brought to the memorial service at Staples Arena. Among celebrities who will be attending the memorial are Ron Boyd, Madonna, Kobe Bryant, Mariah Carey, Beyonce, Andrae Crouch, Berry Gordy, Jennifer Hudson, Shaheen Jafargholi, Magic Johnson, Martin Luther King III, Bernice A. King, John Mayer, Lionel Richie, Smokey Robinson, Rev. Al Sharpton, Brooke Shields, Pastor Lucious Smith, Usher, Stevie Wonder, Justin Timberlake, Lionel Richie’s daughter Nicole, Akon, Queen Latifah, Sean “Diddy” Combs, and Beyonce.
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Apple orders up a ton of cameras, rumored to hit the iPod

Considering how much Apple loves to tout the iPhone 3GS’ video capabilities in TV ads, this rumor makes plenty of sense. One of TC’s sources in Asia claims Apple has ordered a tremendous number of cameras — the kind that go into the iPhone — and that an order of this quantity can only mean one thing: iPods. If the cameras are really intended for iPods and the iPod touch gets video recording capabilities, low-end digital camera manufacturers and specialty companies like Flip might have a bumpy road ahead. Sure the photo/video quality in an “iPod touchS” wouldn’t be anywhere near comparable to a dedicated device but what does that matter? Novelty beats out quality all the time in this day and age.

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Sony Ericsson First Android SmartPhone Initial Specifications Leaked

There are many mobile manufacturers that starting to look into new platform development with Linux-based Android OS (Operating System) such as the Motorola’s first Android based iDEN phone or the Skytone’s Alpha 680 as the world’s first Android based netbook, now seems like Sony Ericsson has been working on its first Android smartphones for high end consumer markets. Codenamed as Rachel, it will be powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon processor clocking at 1GHz speed.

Rachel is expected to fit well under its existing XPERIA family as similar to currently available X1 series that focus much on graphics performance and speed. To make it a more powerful multimedia centric device, it will be equipped with an impressive 8-megapixel autofocus camera module and supported with a 3.5-inch or larger touch screen. Good thing is, it will be featured with HSPA at maximum of 7.2Mbps download capability for impressive visual and web browsing for desktop-like experience on mobile computing.

The next generation Android based smartphone is believed to be preloaded with Android 2.0 and will reach consumer market space by end of 2009, competing against Apple recently released 3G S iPhone with its powerful feature sets emphasizing on multimedia and 3D graphics performance.
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Apple 3G iPhone Ranked Number One Best Selling Smartphones in Japan Market

Apple’s iPhone has been getting much traction as one of the most demanding smartphones in the world. Similarly to Japanese customers, its 3G version which was brought in by Softbank in the mid of last year is believed to be the number one best-selling smartphone models in Japan market.
Apple 3G 8GB version is ranked number one based on recent survey conducted by BCN, a market survey company to around 2300 stores located nationwide in Japan. Surprisingly, its 16GB version was ranked number two followed closely by NTT DoCoMo Aquos SH-04A, designed by Sharp, a Japanese local branded smartphone. Although Apple’s iPhones lack of 1SEG Mobile TV capabilities, but it has managed to attract its consumers with its powerful software, great hardware video capabilities and more importantly, a strong application software development team’s support from all over the world. Others that are in the lists include the BlackBerry Bold by RIM as well as few models from HTC that filled up the top-ten list.

Obviously, besides Apple’s famous brand name, Softbank is also playing an important role in pushing the 3G iPhones to the market. With its heavily subsidized hardware retailed price and affordable data plans, it is estimated that more than a million units have been sold in Japan market since its first launch back to July last year. Hopefully the latest 3G S model will continue its momentum to push more new units into this saturated mobile industry.
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What Is This?

I thought this was some kind of bird hunting device sitting on top of a massive forest. In reality it may be your next vacation destination. And you will need the largest thermal airship to get it up there.

This is a canopy raft, an enormous set of nets held together with inflatable tubes that act as an structural frame. It can be placed on top of forests so people can camp, accessing the ground below using a hole and ropes. Apparently, the are so light that the trees don't get harmed at all.

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Video: Duke Nukem’s disease

Duke Nukem’s disease is a scary one, Gene brings you the story of the life of a First Person Shooter.” Enjoy your non-productive Friday.

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Milla Jovovich confirms Resident Evil: Afterlife in the works

There was a bit of chatter going around yesterday that a fourth Resident Evil film was in the works. Well, it appears that it’s all true and that the fourth installment in the Resident Evil franchise will begin shooting by the end of the year with a scheduled September 17, 2010 release.

Want to know what’s funny about this whole thing? Jovovich spilled the beans back in April when no one seemed to care or notice. Oh well.


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LG guns for Samsung; iPhone competitor, Prada III , Android phones and new high end brand all in the works

LG continues to prove itself as a force to be reckoned with and following a story from the Korean Yohap News Agency, it’s plenty clear that the handset manufacturer has no intentions of slowing down any time soon. LG’s head of Mobile Ahn Seung-kwon reportedly coughed up a hell of an interview with Yohap, during the course of which several tasty morsels came to light:

* LG, currently holding the number three position where global cell phone market share is concerned, plans to slide into the number two spot by 2012. That’s two and a half years from now for those of you keeping score at home. Samsung — consider yourself on notice.
* In Q4 of this year, LG will release a “Black Label” phone that will supposedly do battle with the iPhone. We’ve never heard that claim before of course, so we’re very excited to see what shapes up.
* LG is currently working on the third iteration of its Prada phone, though no release timing was specified.
* Smartphones are a particular area of interest for the company moving forward and it will focus on Windows Mobile and Android as far as OSes are concerned.
* The company plans to attack the ultra high end market with a new premium line of handsets “similar to Toyota’s Lexus and Nokia’s Vertu”. We’re not sure how that will help LG in its quest for the number two spot in terms of market share but hey, at least BG will have a few more toys to play with.

Ok, deep breaths. LG clearly has its sights set high and the continued quality of the handsets it churns out is promising. At the same time, the manufacturer has yet to shine where innovation is concerned — something it will certainly need to do if it plans to make a real run at passing Samsung for the number two spot.
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Elgato Offers Freesat for Your Mac or PC

If you’ve got a whopping great satellite dish on your roof (or have discreet access to your neighbour’s) you now have the chance to watch free satelite programmes on your PC or Mac without needing any subscription to Sky.elgatosattvx535

Elgato have released the EyeTV satellite TV tuner that easily connects directly to your Mac through a USB port. Once hooked-up, you’ll be able to receive DVD-S and DVB-S2 transmissions.

If you’re wondering what you’ll actually end up sitting down to watch with your cup of tea, there are currently hundreds of channels that broadcast free-to-air satellite programmes such as BBC HD and ITV HD.

There is also an integrated CI slot for satellite Pay TV, but check with your subscription provider as to whether the relevant smartcard will work. Unfortunately BSkyB isn’t supported.

EyeTV Sat can also be used as a DVR so you can watch, record and edit programmes for future HD enjoyment later. There is also the option to pause and rewind live broadcasts.

This device further supports multilingual programming, Teletext and Dolby Digital sound.

The accompanying software will also allow you to drop recorded TV shows into iTunes so you can watch them on your iPod on the way to work, or share across a network.

To the nitty gritty, Mac system requirements involve a PowerPC G4, G5 or Intel Core processor. For PCs you’ll need a 2,0 GHz Intel or AMD CPU or Intel Centrino CPU.

The EyeTV is available now from Elgato for £180 and will also be stocked by Apple retailers.
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Drag and Drop Feature in Gmail Labeling Toolkit

Gmail has rolled out another great feature recently. This time they have enhanced the Gmail‘s labeling toolkit, which is located on the left panel of your inbox (or on the right if you are using Arabic, Hebrew or Urdu version) that contains any personal folders either created by you or the default folders come together with Gmail account such as Personal, Travel, Contacts, Trash, Spam and etc. This enhancement has made labeling even easier and more importantly, it helps you stay organized with proper folder arrangement at own preference.



By having drag and drop feature enhancement for labels, you can now move your messages from inbox to any folder as you preferred easily. Just drag the message which you want to move, then drop it into the desired folder and that is all. If you do it in reverse order, drag the folder and drop it into the message, then the message will be labeled with folder name. To move or label multiple messages at one time, just tick all the messages, then drag these messages to the folder or vice verse. Besides, you can arrange your folders by using drag and drop feature as well. For those seldom used folders or labels, you can drag and drop them into “more” menu to hide them so that they look more organized and neat.

This is definitely a good feature differentiation as you normally don’t find it in other email providers. If you don’t see this feature available at your Gmail now, probably you can check it from time to time as it will be rolled out soonest possible.
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Follow New TechNet and MSDN Downloads on Twitter

TechNet and MSDN (Microsoft Developer Network) subscribers have access massive collection of full version software products from Microsoft with no time or feature limit, where paid subscription entitles subscribers to not only free downloads and product keys for the software, but also exclusive early access to new software releases, service packs, patches, and beta software before they’re available publicly.

With such an exclusive privileges, many subscribers of TechNet or MSDN will want to be the first one to know when there is new downloads been released or posted on MSDN Subscriber Downloads or TechNet Subscriber Downloads.

Microsoft does provide new downloads RSS for MSDN and TechNet, which everybody can subscribe to the feed.

Beau Giles gava a top that for Twitter maniac, or those who receive faster notification via Twitter followings, both MSDN and TechNet also has two Twitter accounts that can be followed in order to get to know new downloads been released on TechNet and MSDN.

TechNet New Downloads: http://twitter.com/TechNetDownload
MSDN New Downloads: http://twitter.com/MSDNDownloads

Both tweets the latest products added for subscribers (either TechNet or MSDN) to download, which including the highly anticipated Windows 7. For non-subscribers, new downloads in TechNet or MSDN also provide advantage of having insight into when a general public release will be available, which is likely to be sooner rather than later.

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Even a pirate has his price (and apparently it’s not much); Pirate Bay sold

First, the short version: The Pirate Bay has been acquired by Global Gaming Factory X AB for $7.7 million. Now the even shorter version: WTF?! We don’t know where to start with this one. The ridiculously low acquisition price? The fact that this politically active, anti-establishment, controversial, torrent-loving site was acquired at all? A blog post on the site this morning states:

The profits from the sale will go into a foundation that is going to help with projects about freedom of speech, freedom of information and the openess [SIC] of the nets.

Fair enough. The deal is expected to be completed in August and whatever the case, expect The Pirate Bay to undergo some pretty big changes moving forward. If you’re a pirate, expect The Pirate Bay also to become infinitely less useful moving forward. Apparently those legal fees add up pretty fast.
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MyDeskFriend Little Robotic Penguin Adds Fun To Facebook

To make your social networking site, Facebook, more interactive and to add a personal touch, Arimaz has brought to Facebook enthusiasts a tiny adorable robot penguin, MyDeskFriend. Complimented as a “social-media companion”, the Arimaz’s MyDeskFriend little robot penguin can be integrated into users’ Facebook profile and communicate with users on Facebook. For instance, this adorable penguin will alert users when there are friends logged in, to read messages and emails, poke friends, alerts users for notification, etc.


The cutie MyDeskFriend penguin has five different moods and the mood is indicated by the color of the penguin’s eye. If the eyes turn red, it means the little one is getting pissed off because you do not treat it properly. You can play with the little penguin to keep it in a happy mood. To add fun to it, users’ other Facebook friends also can take part and play with the little penguin via a Facebook gameplay interface. This little penguin can roll around on users’ desk. Users do not need to worry the little gadget will fall off from the desk as it comes with infrared sensors to prevent it from falling.

Generally MyDeskFriend penguin provides more fun to Facebook users when they are accessing their account. Apart from that, it doesn’t really have any other practical functions. Facebook enthusiasts can look forward to this tiny device which will be launched in September at the price of $99.

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Donate to Feeding America for Free By Downloading IE8 Browser for the Better

Want to do some monetary donation charity, but feel that there you’re strapped of cash and not deep pocket enough? Why not let Microsoft does the donation for you? If you’re intending to download Internet Explorer 8 (IE8), why not do the charity at the same time, where Microsoft will donate $1.15 per download to Feeding America, provided you’re download IE8 through “Browser for the Better” website before August 8, 2009.


From June 8, 2008 through August 8, 2009, Microsoft will donate $1.15 Feeding America for every completed download of Windows Internet Explorer 8 through browserforthebetter.com. $1.15 is financial equivalent of eight meals to Feeding America’s network of 206 local food banks, according to Microsoft’s press release. Up to a maximum of $1,000,000 can be donated, with mean conversion effective until June 30th, 2010.

Feeding America is the nation’s leading domestic hunger-relief charity in the United States, providing free or reduced-price food assistance to more than 25 million low-income people facing hunger in the United States, including more than 9 million children and nearly 3 million seniors. More than 2 billion pounds of donated food and grocery products are secured and distributed by the Feeding America network annually, which works with approximately 63,000 local charitable agencies that distribute food directly to Americans in need.

Important thing to note is that, to qualify for the donation, download of IE8 must be initiated from http://www.browserforthebetter.com/download.html.

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MSN Web Messenger Closure with Windows Live Messenger Unblock Alternative

MSN Web Messenger is the online web-based messenger client for Windows Live Messenger, which previously known as MSN Messenger. MSN Web Messenger is probably the last service by Microsoft that still carry the MSN brand name. However, MSN Web Messenger, which was introduced in August, 2004, will be terminated and became unavailable from June 30, 2009.



MSN Web Messenger has been popular with users who access to Windows Live Messenger service or server been blocked when using Windows Live Messenger desktop client, or been assigned a standard user account that cannot install or restricted from installing Windows Live Messenger client onto the computer. When connection to Windows Live Messenger is blocked, MSN Web Messenger, which solely relies on HTTP protocol, is used as a workaround to unblock messenger blockage, be it firewall rules or policy restrictions.

As an alternative to MSN Web Messenger, user can login to Windows Live Hotmail or Windows Live People (both tightly integrated) instead. A similar Windows Live Messenger (Web) has been integrated as part of Windows Live Hotmail as the replacement IM service.

Windows Live Hotmail and People built-in Messenger (Web) features integration of email and chat interface, and integration of contacts between Messenger contacts and profile contacts in Windows Live People. Once signed in, user can see if the contacts is online or offline, including directly from a status icon on email message to see if sender available for chat. The web messenger service within Windows Live service also supports multiple points of presence (MPOP) feature, which allows user to sign in or out of Windows Live Messenger from multiple places or devices at the same time, without having to sign out on the first computer.

Microsoft recommends users of MSN Web Messenger to switch to Windows Live People to continue using the web version of Messenger, especially for users with Windows Live IDs that do not use a Hotmail account as its email address. However, for most people, sign in through Windows Live Hotmail is the most convenient.



The Windows Live Web Messenger service is available on the top right corner (beside Options) after signing into Windows Live Hotmail or Windows Live People.
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Beta Version Of AdSense For Mobile Applications

Nowadays, the mobile applications have been growing rapidly and widely downloaded and installed on mobile devices. To capture the market of mobile apps, the popular search giant, Google has launched its beta version of AdSense for Mobile applications. According to the company, Adsense for Mobile Applications beta version has been preceded with a successful trial which involved a small number of partners like Backgrounds, Sega, Shazam and Urbanspoon, and is now open to a much broader group of developers.



According to the official Google AdSense blog, “Mobile applications are now widely accepted. They assist users to find music, make restaurant reservations or check bank balances from their phone. Advertisers are always finding out means to reach out to their potential customers; whereas application developers are looking for ways to demonstrate the best ads to the users. AdSense for Mobile Applications facilitates developers to earn revenue by presenting text and image ads into their iPhone and Android applications”.

Along with the beta launched, it also incorporated with a site which provides information about the Adsense for mobile applications at http://www.google.com/ads/mobileapps/. It allows the developers to view the answer to FAQs or sign up to participate in the beta.
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Apple Earns $400 or More for Each 3G S iPhone Sold in Market

Previously we mentioned about the tear down analysis done by iSuppli that disclosed the iPhone BOM (Bill of Material) and manufacturing cost to be around 178.96, how much do you think Apple Inc is actually making profit for each of the new iPhone 3G S sold in the market? You may be surprised to hear that it could earn more than $400 for each 16GB or 32GB 3G S iPhone that being pushed to the market.



Although the selling price is just $199 for a 16GB 3G S iPhone, but it is common practice for service provider to subsidize some of the mobile devices’ cost upfront and then only earn from subsequent subscription plan. Similar to AT&T, it is expected to have subsidized quite a huge portion especially for this branded device from Apple Inc that makes it so affordable with condition that the end users subscribe to its data plan for 2 years. According to reliable source, Apple is believed to be selling its latest iPhone devices to AT&T at around $600 per unit, which equals to a total profit of around $422 per unit.

However, this doesn’t include some of its cost in R&D, marketing programs, after sales services which could slightly cut down the amount depending on the manufacturing volumes as well as the units sold to market. Best still, a 32GB version model is claimed to have extra $80 margin, with its selling price of $699 while the extra capacity NAND chip only costs $20 more as compared to 16GB model.
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Toyota’s Mind-Controlled Wheelchair

The mind is the most mysterious and powerful part of our body which can inflict awesome power and influences beyond our expectations. That is the reason many scientists, researchers, etc have been constantly striving to develop devices or gadgets controlled by mind power. The Japanese car maker, Toyota, via its Toyota Collaboration Center has collaborated with researchers in Japan to develop a unique wheelchair which can be controlled by the mind.


This innovative wheelchair from Toyota can interact with users’ thoughts via a Brain Machine Interface (BMI). The working concept behind the device is the brain wave-detecting technology or electroencephalography (EEG). EEG is not a brand new technology but it has been developed and applied in various areas by researchers. With this technology, the sensors will detect human’s brain waves and the wave patterns will be analyzed and translated by a computer and converted into instructions/messages for activities to be carried out.

Even though EEG technology has existed for quite some time, scientists still have difficulty controlling it and achieving shorter response time from brain waves for analysis. The new Toyota mind-controlled wheelchair somehow can be claimed to be a breakthrough as the wheelchair is able to respond within 125 milliseconds. In other words, users on the wheelchair can use their mind to control the device’s movement almost instantly. Toyota also claimed the new invention can achieve up to 95% accuracy.

If the mind controlled wheelchair is successfully developed, it will be an amazing device to assist in the rehabilitation of patients who are paralyzed or unable to control muscle movement and stroke sufferers.
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